TV/Film Professionals Look To Games

According to a new In-Stat survey of TV and movie industry professionals, over half of those surveyed indicated that they see the videogame business as either somewhat or very important to their business in the coming years, showing the increasing importance of games over the entire entertainment industry. In the survey, 1,806 subscribers to industry journals Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, and Multichannel News were polled on several subjects, touching on games, but largely relating to the impact of piracy on their respective businesses, another interesting question for the games industry. On that subject, half the respondents in TV and films said that piracy is a threat to their profitability, and 27% have already been damaged by growing piracy in their field. In that light, it's worth noting that pirating a new console game is more difficult than a new CD or movie - the former often requires special hardware either to run or produce the illicit game, whereas bootleg music or films can be run on any PC in the world. Game publishers also often have more effective yet less restrictive means to control piracy, especially with the rise of online gaming; Microsoft has taken steps to ensure anyone who plays pirated games is locked out of their Xbox Live service, while Valve and Blizzard have taken strong measures online to combat piracy in their new blockbusters Half-Life 2 and World of Warcraft. The survey does not draw a direct link toward the greater interest in video games and the rise of piracy in more mainstream entertainment industries, but given the stronger barriers to piracy in the gaming industry, there may be a correlation.